CHAPTER I Means of Communication in Rural Districts 1. Importance and status of rural communication. 2. The new movements for better rural communication. _a_) Highways. _b_) Rural free mail delivery. _c_) Rural telephone. _d_) Interurban electric railways. CHAPTER II Farmers' Organizations 1. Value of. 2. Difficulties in organizing. 3. Forms that organizations may take. 4. History and work of farmers' organizations in the United States. 5. General deductions from study of farmers' organizations. CHAPTER III Rural Education 1. Distinction between rural and agricultural education. 2. The country school. _a_) Its importance, organization, maintenance, instruction, and supervision. _b_) The rural school as a social center. _c_) The township unit, the consolidated school, the centralized school. 3. High-school privileges for rural pupils. 4. The rural library. 5. Other agencies for rural education. CHAPTER IV Means of Agricultural Education 1. Historical. 2. Research in agriculture. 3. Agricultural instruction to resident students. _a_) Higher education in agriculture. _b_) Secondary education in agriculture. _c_) Primary education in agriculture. 4. Extension teaching in agriculture. 5. Miscellaneous agencies for agricultural education. _a_) Farmers' societies. _b_) The farm press. _c_) The county paper. _d_) Industrial departments of steam railways. CHAPTER V The Rural Church 1. Present status. 2. Difficulties in country church work. 3. The awakening in the rural church. 4. The institutional rural church. 5. The Y. M. C. A. in the country. 6. The rural Sunday school. 7. The rural social settlement. CHAPTER VI The Social Ideal for Agriculture 1. The importance of social agencies. 2. The preservation of the "American farmer" essential. 3. Relation of this ideal to our American civilization. 4. The federation or co-operation of rural social agencies. CHAPTER XVII FEDERATION FOR RURAL PROGRESS It is almost trite to assert the need of the "socialization"--to use a much-worked phrase--of the country. It is possible that this need is not greater than in the cities, but it is different. Among no class of people is individualism so rampant as among farmers. For more than a century the American farmer led the freest possible social life. His independence was his glory. But, when the day of co-operation dawned, he found himself out of tune with the movement, was disinclined to join the ranks of organized effort, and he prefers even yet his personal and local independence to the truer freedom which can be secured only through co-operative endeavor. Moreover, the social aspect of the rural problem is important not merely because the farmer is slow to co-operate. The farm problem is to be met by the activities of social institutions.